WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Tuesday’s presidential election in the United States has parallels to the June vote in which UK voters opted to quit the European Union and could produce similarly surprising, populism-fueled results, Chilton said.
"It’s going to be some surprise tomorrow,” Chilton said Monday. “On the day of the referendum, with the Remain campaign, a poll was published that put them 10 points ahead. And we eventually won by 4 percent of the vote. I think it’s very possible that something similar will happen in America. It all depends on turnout in key areas.”
An opinion poll released Monday by The Economist and YouGov showed Clinton leading Donald Trump by four points.
Turnout was a decisive factor in the UK referendum, Chilton explained, as those eager to pull the country out of the EU were far more determined to get to voting sites than those who backed the “remain” position.
In addition, Trump’s campaign is promoting a digital app similar to one Brexit proponents used for mining voter data and pushing get-out-the-vote messages to users, US media reported Monday.
The pro-Brexit side won largely on the strength of promises to retake control of border security from EU authorities in Brussels and to halt what many Britons see as unchecked immigration. In the United States, Trump has pledged to restrict immigration, particularly from Mexico and Middle Eastern countries.
"I think what a lot of those supporting Trump are actually saying is not about controlling immigration, but about controlling the economy,” Chilton asserted. “They say, ‘We don’t control our economy.’ It was the same over here.”
The centerpiece of Trump’s campaign is a pledge to "make America great again." He has a 100-day “action plan” to fight corruption in the US political system. The businessman-turned-candidate has vowed to shrink the size of the federal workforce and to ease regulations on private companies.
"In the UK, there is a general feeling that politics is not working for people. I think in the US, people feel they have had enough of Washington, just like here people felt they had enough of Westminster,” Chilton said, referring to the seat of the UK government. “And I don’t think it’s the end of this anti-establishment feeling, I think we are at the beginning.”
Trump calls the US government “broken” and corrupt and says elections are "rigged.” Although he trails Clinton in most opinion surveys, the Republican insists most polling organizations and mainstream US media are also corrupt and have a pro-Clinton bias.
